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Now this building is going to be constructed of prefabricated materials, so I think the number is somewhat disingenuous, considering the time it will take to assemble these materials isn't included in the construction timeline, I believe (please correct me if I'm wrong here).

They may be able to build it, but I sure wouldn't want to live in it! Even with all the walls/floors, and everything prefabricated (which would have to include all plumbing, wiring etc.) I don't know how they could dig and install the concrete and build the infrastructure, footings, etc. in 90 days that would support such a tall building. If the foundation and framework were already in process I could see it.

But, I guess if you have massive numbers of people working 24/7, I guess you could do it. Crazy!

Sounds impressive. If it works, even if it is one of the ten ugliest buildings, it will revolutionize skyscraper construction. If those costs are accurate it's all the more impressive. Being able to build towers that quickly and cheaply will likely lead to a building boom. Possibly even causing rents to decrease in areas such as New York.

The process will never translate to construction costs in the US unless a temporary worker visa is made into law that would allow us construction companies to pay a worker 5 dollars a day for a 12 hr shift. Even if such a law was passed, I don't see the Unions in NY letting that happen.

I also believe it is disingenuous to say that the building will be done in 90 days. How long to build the prefab parts? How long to finish the interiors so that the building is functional? How long to finish the flatwork and landscaping so that the approach to the building is functional? Is construction of the foundation included in that number?

I recently turned down a project in Malaysia and even with a large population that was looking for work the Malaysian contractors imported workers from Indonesia. They worked on site barefoot and their safety goal was to limit the deaths on the site. Their temporary barracks looked like something straight out of "Hell on Wheels."

It will be an amazing feat if they pull it off and prefabrication is definitely the future of construction, but I'm definitely skeptical.

Here is the biggest problem as I see it with a 90 day construction time. They will never have time to properly inspect every aspect of the structure. It will go up too fast to do that. This could never happen this fast here unless the inspectors were under the builders thumb or in his pocketbook. Here almost every bolt has to be inspected. I don't see that happening here with 5 floors being built a day. I know here the elevator guys cant even do an elevator that fast. And this one has 104 of them at high speeds.

But they will do it I am sure in 90 days anyway. The funny thing is that this was devised by an AC and heat company. I foresee a LOOOONNNNGGGG punch list on this one.

Came accross your post, I wanna add a few updates: these 90 days are now long gone and so are the 200 days they estimated after realizing the world record would never happened. Then they have revised upward their estimation to 1 year and it was supposed to be done last month, June 2014...

this is all political, Changsha doesn't need the tallest building in the world, the politician just using our tax payer's money to make their political career shine. and 90 days are completely impossible! normally in Shenzhen the fastest they can build is 3days/floor.. and yes, they work 24/7 which is annoying. the city has been under construction 24/7 for 30yrs and it's not finished!

What does the overall Chinese real estate market look like? Was the 60 minutes episode about ghost towns overblown? Is it slowing? Macro numbers from China are mixed. Depending on who you listen to here, either a gradual slow down or an impending disaster. Like usual, the answer may be somewhere in between.

Hi Greg, yes, there are many ghost towns here in tier 3-4 cities. with 90% vacancy rates, and also some premium office buildings are rented for FREE as long as the tenant pays the management fee (2-3USD/sqm).

Apartments are rented (consider youself lucky to find a tenant) for only 100USD/month for a two bedroom 80sqm apartment when the purchase price is well over 50K USD.

But in demanding areas like Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai.

Rents are going for 10000USD/month for a shanghai Villa, normally rented to fortune 500 executives but the Villa is marketed for 6-7million USD minimum.

And obviously the net ROI is considered very ****** and landlord don't care because they consider the property as a rare resource and focusing on the capital gain more than ROI.

There is no property tax at the moment here but the management fee and rental tax is approx. 5-10% of the rental value depends on compound location.

China real estate market defidently is slowing down, it was going u too fast so 5yrs ago our federal government forced all tier 1-2-3 cities in China with purchase restrictions (maximum 3 residential property allowed to own per HOUSEHOLD), now 5yrs later when it's actually slowing down, they lose the restriction again to tier 1 city only and release the restriction on tier 2-3 cities, which is stupid cos nobody is buying anyway.

But our bubble is hard to break, because our MINIMUM down payment for any purchases is 30%! second purchase is 70% down payment! and third purchase has to be cash!

Bank financing is around 6-7% annual interest. so property value must drop 30-40% in order to encourage people to stop paying mortgage! So we don't have many foreclosure homes here, in any case they do, it would be some corrupted government guys got caught or some major criminal in jail, but in those cases ordinary guys won't get access to them as they are handled internally~~

btw, our ownership title to a deed is 70yrs, and that's in total, so every time it sales to another landlord the new landlord is only getting whatever thats left of the 70yrs. 50yrs only for commercial, and 40yrs for industrial.

We don't have an real estate industry in China until 1985, so far nobody really knows what would happen when the DEED expires.... thats why permanent ownership is so critical and attractive to Chinese buyers.

In New Zealand the deed is 999 years and whenever sold to a new landlord, it's 999 years again so considered permanent.